Oscar’s phone number ending in 4949 is the one that was seized at the scene.

Oscar’s phone number ending in 0020 is the one that was turned in by the Defense on Feb 26, 2013. This is the one that was primarily used by Oscar on February 13 and 14.

Moller verifies he used XRY software to do the data extraction on the phone that was seized on the scene.

For the other phone that was turned in later, there were 3 types of extractions completed – one with Cellebrite software, one done by Apple in the US, and one completed on an updated version of the XRY software on March 5 of this year.

The paper and electronic downloads of these devices were given to the Defense.

The communication analysis that he did, based on the records provided from the service provider, not only included details about the communication but also about movement.

These phone records can show you phone calls, text messages and GPRS activity. GPRS is all of the internet activity (social media, WhatsApp chat, etc). The cell towers that were used for each action are noted on these phone records as well. This is how they are able to track movement.

Rather than bringing large paper reports to court to show what was found, Moller compiled all of the data in to charts so the information could be visualized. It is much easier to understand both content and movement when put in to chart format.

For the remainder of the day there were only GPRS connections made by the device.

20:04:00 – GPRS – 17 seconds – tower closest to Oscar’s.

20:04:17 – The last GPRS of the day – 41,029 seconds (over 11 hours) – tower closest to Oscar’s.

Moller reminds the Judge that if she would like to see the content of those GPRS connections (potentially WhatsApp chats) she could look back at the data downloads that he provided yesterday to see what the specific content was for those times. Nel had Moller point this out right after he spoke about the GPRS that started at 20:04:00.

The next chart is for Oscar and it includes both of his phone numbers.

One incoming voice call was relayed to the voice mailbox center. The tower was listed as “no cell ID in ticket”. This means that the cell phone was switched off during that time and the messages would be delivered once the phone was turned on.

0020 Number

February 13

17:30:46 – GPRS – 254 seconds – Mitrand Gardens tower

As Oscar made more GPRS connections during this time frame, the towers indicated that he was moving closer towards his home.

Then after this time, all incoming calls were diverted to the voice mailbox center. No outgoing calls were made.

The phone was pinging to the tower closest to Oscar’s up until 8:00am and then it left the location (meaning that somebody took it with them when they left Oscar’s house and it wasn’t the police)

That’s all for Nel. Roux is up to cross-examine.

Roux asks Moller how it would be possible for Reeva’s phone to still have active GPRS activity after her death. In particular the GPRS connection that started on Feb 13, at 20:04:17 (while she was alive) and lasted for 41,029 seconds (11+ hrs), ending after her death.

He explains that one of the applications on the device was still open and connected to the network. I wonder if we’ll find out more about this. This is where Moller reminded the Judge that she could go back to the data report and find out specifically what Reeva was doing on her phone at the time.

He testifies there are also other reasons why smart phones connect to GPRS networks such as email updates, automatic cell phone updates, etc. It doesn’t necessarily require human interaction to activate GPRS. From billing records alone, you cannot specify human interaction. (But again, you can also look back to the data reports to find out if there was human interaction.)

Roux then reviews the security call logs from February 14, 2013.
These are the calls that security guard Baba received:

Incoming call at 03:15:51 – 16 seconds (Stipp)

Incoming call at 03:16:15 – 0 seconds, not answered (Nhlengethwa)

Incoming call at 03:16:36 – 44 seconds (Nhlengethwa)

Incoming call at 03:21:33 – 9 seconds (Oscar)

Then Baba’s outgoing call to Oscar was after this and lasted for 12 seconds. This is the “everything is fine” call.

Incoming call at 03:27 – 0 seconds, not answered (Stipp)

Roux points out that Oscar called his voicemail in between the time that he called Baba at 3:21:33 and when Baba called back at 3:22:05. The voicemail call was at 03:21:47 and lasted 7 seconds. He asks Moller if he is aware that on iPhones the voicemail button at the bottom can easily be pushed by accident when trying to dial a number. Moller agrees that he has heard this. Roux suggests that Oscar did not intentionally call his voicemail at that time, it was an accident.

Roux then asks Moller if he knows who was using Oscar’s phone at the time the calls were made (and then answered) to Peet Van Zyl between 4:09:03 and 4:11:25. And he says no, he does not. It’s Oscar’s phone but he does not know who was using it at the time.

Roux focuses next on the text messages between Oscar and Reeva on WhatsApp. Out of the approximate 1,700 messages between them, only 4 were chosen to be read in court by the State. Roux wants to know why only these 5 were relevant.

Moller explains that he was looking for ones that stood out from their normal, ordinary conversations. Roux pointedly asks him if he was looking for arguments and he agrees he was. Moller clarifies that it wasn’t just 4 text messages it was 4 conversations (that lasted over several texts.)

Roux also wants to address the message that was read regarding the Tashas shooting incident. Roux asks Moller if he could find a message where Oscar says he asked Darren to take the blame for him. He says no he could not. The only message relating to that incident that they could find was the one read yesterday.

Roux now spends a lot of time going through the more loving messages exchanged between Oscar and Reeva. He also points out that some of the arguments that were noted yesterday were over somewhat quickly. This is evidenced by text messages the next day using words like baby and showing kiss symbols like XX.

For the record… listening to Roux read flirty text messages and say “kiss, kiss” repeatedly in court may require me to seek therapy at some point. 🙂

RS: You like it?
OP: I love it
RS: XX

RS: Morning Ozzy
OP: Morning Baba

He is also pointing out a number of other texts that relate to various aspects of the case:

On January 23, 2013, there was a text from Oscar to Reeva.
OP: I’m just in the physio baba

This pertains to Oscar needing therapy for an injured shoulder. This will be relevant to what side of the bed Oscar was sleeping on the night of the shooting.

Then another text message from Feb 11, 2013, there was another message about his shoulder.

OP: I’m not going, my shoulder is stuffed.

Roux also wants to show that Reeva had an interest in cars, along with Oscar. This is evidenced by her webpage browsing history.
They review a number of text messages between Oscar and Reeva discussing cars and sharing pictures. Extracted from Reeva’s emails, there was also content about motor vehicles.

I think this is important because when Nel was presenting the iPad evidence, one of the links that came up in Oscar’s browsing history had to do with cars. Oscar’s expression in the dock was very peculiar. Nel was very vague and Roux barely wanted to cross examine on this – his only question to the expert, Michael Sales, was whether or not he knew who was using the iPad at the time. Go back to my Day 13 blog to see the exchange I am referring to. I think we are going to hear more about this when Oscar is on the stand!

Some emails were also uncovered about Reeva looking at property and wanting to relocate.

They next look at CCTV footage from a local store taken on February 4, showing Oscar and Reeva together acting in a loving nature towards each other.

OP: Can’t wait to see you. Would you like me to pick you up?
RS: I really can’t wait to see you boo.
RS: I would love that angel.

OP: Good luck for your meeting beautiful X
RS: Its just an appointment baba OK XX
RS: My angel, I just had a slice of fish, I’m not hungry, I’m falling asleep. Can’t wait to see you XX

RS: Can I wear my leopard dress boo? I wore it to two private functions only, nothing media related.
OP: I hope you enjoy tonight my angel, I’m thinking of you
OP: Yea, I love that and you look amazing in it.

OP: I’m going to turn in wish you were here. Please send me a message to let me know you’re safe.
RS: Ok angel, sweetest of dreams. I’ll message you when I get home XXX

OP: Good morning angel. I hope you slept well. Off to the gym X
RS: Good morning boo. I eventually did. Enjoy gym XXX

RS: Truth is I miss you
OP: I’m missing you so so much!!

RS: If you want to go chill with him that’s cool angel 
RS: I can come to you whenever
OP: No baba we want to chill with you, I miss you
RS: I miss you too bub

RS: Baby I love spending time with you and sleeping next to you. I just don’t ever want to cramp your style or not give you space if you need it. Promise me you will always let me know when you need some Oscar time.
OP: I love having you sleep next to me too baba. You never cramp my style. I have some work I need to get through tonight and have an early start. I promise baba and likewise XX

RS: I’m always on your side. I’m pro you and pro your career, but mostly pro us and the health of our relationship

RS: We are important to me

RS: Lots of hugs. I hope you have a super blessed day. I have said a small prayer for both of us XXX
OP: Thank you so much for being strong my angel. That message meant a lot to me. I am taking your advice. Just sent a host of emails and trying to take control of my admin. Miss you X

OP: Come visit me
RS: If I knew you were just chilling I would have gone to you hours ago

And now we are getting down to the last few days before the shooting.

February 11…

RS: Baby can I cook for you on Thursday? (this would have been Feb 14)
RS: What can you eat this week?
OP: I’d love that

OP: My angel, thinking of you XX
OP: I wish you were here cuddling me
OP: I miss you so
RS: I’m sorry I’m not there angel 
RS: I’ll be there in my heart and mind XXX

RS: I know Warren wanted to have coffee today so we could catch up and I can get my post, etc from him, but I can see him another day
OP: Yea I will baba, I have a dentist’s appt at 12:30. Maybe go see him and come through when you’re done. XXX
OP: I will do baba. The physio didn’t have needles so I’ll go back after the dentist.

February 13…

12:12pm
RS: Baba I hope you don’t mind but I came back to the house to work and do some washing. It will help me a lot to get stuff done and relieve some stress. I’ll go through to Jo’burg at like 3pm. XXX

13:10pm
RS: It’s a difficult thing to try to console you baba because it’s a shitty thing and you’re a nice guy. I guess these things happen and we can just hope they work out for the best. You are an amazing person with so many blessings and you are more than cared for. Your health and future monetary blessings far outweigh this hurdle I can promise you that 
OP: Thank you so much my angel you don’t have to. X Stay tonight if you would like.

15:21pm
OP: I’m just finishing off at Ryan(?)
RS: Thank you baba let me know if you’d like to spend time with him or Carl. I’m sure you maybe feel like some family tonight.

15:46
RS: Angel I’m going to go home at like 6pm. Please stay and do whatever it was you were gonna do

Some thoughts about February 13 and what was going on with these two. Oscar called Reeva around 1:02pm and they spoke for 4 minutes or so. She then sends the text message to him about trying to console him. Something obviously happened to him that day that he was upset about.

Then, she had GPRS activity from 13:07 to 13:40 with that last connection lasting for 2 hours. We don’t know who she was chatting/texting/communicating with during this GPRS session. Unfortunately, the records that Moller addressed in court for Oscar only started around 5pm that night, so I can’t match up his calls to hers from earlier in the day.

Around 3:30pm Oscar seems to be finishing up wherever he is. She suggests that he spend the night with family and then a little while after that states that she is going home around 6pm

The next call I can see is from Oscar who called her at 5:12pm and they talked for one minute. She was still at his house according to the tower. Remember she was planning to leave close to 6pm.

There was some GPRS activity after this, although no additional text messages were mentioned in testimony so not sure if there was any more text communication between the two.

Reeva then calls Oscar at 5:44pm and speaks to him for 2 and half minutes. Her phone is now pinging from a different tower which means she has left his home.

There are no more calls after this, only GPRS activity. Again, no text messages read in testimony so not sure if they are texting each other.

But she was seen coming back thru the Silver Woods security gate some time close to 6pm that night (seen by Baba and seen on CCTV pics) so something made her come back. Oscar arrived home approximately 10 minutes after her. It is not clear if he was expecting her or not based on their exchanges.

So this really has me thinking about how the evening started for them. She may have surprised him or maybe he convinced her to come back. We’ll have to wait and see.

Oscar says to her earlier in the day to stay tonight if she likes and her response was that she was going home at 6pm, please stay (where he was) and do whatever it was he was going to do.

Based on these messages, it sounds like she was not planning on spending the evening with him, sounds more like he wanted to spend it with her.

Yet, in his bail affidavit he stated that Reeva called him and suggested they have dinner at home and he agreed. Something is not matching up here.

Sooo… if there was some back and forth that night about whether or not she was going to stay, and he was already dealing with some bad news from earlier in the day, maybe things were tense. We saw a neatly packed bag on the sofa in his bedroom. And we saw jeans on the ground outside just below the bathroom window. Maybe he did throw those out the window in anger because she wanted to leave. No doubt these messages and times will be dug in to deeper during cross-examination with him.

Nel is back up and reminds the court that Moller has read all of the WhatsApp messages. We have just heard the Defense read a handful of loving messages but wants to know how many of the total messages are long messages saying how much they are in love with each other.

Moller’s response is that the majority of the communication is very short, one line messages. Boo, baby and angel were used a lot but there were no long messages discussing their relationship or how in love they were.

Nel also points out that in some of the exchanges that Roux had read, parts of the exchange were left out. They were not reading full conversations so it’s hard to get the full context of what each side meant with their responses.

Nel now wants to look at the long message where Reeva discusses her feelings (read in court yesterday) and brings to the court’s attention that after Reeva sent that email, Oscar responded back “baba”. So clearly that word baba was used quite frequently, whether mad or not. It doesn’t necessarily indicate love as Roux would like to show.

Moller is excused.

Next witness up is Warrant Officer Adriaan Maritz. He has 24 years of experience as a police officer.

Nel asks him if there is any record in the police system of Oscar having been a victim of crime. He answers no.

They then look at a map of the Silverlakes community. Nel wants to know the crime statistics for the last few years. The map shows January 2011 through April 2013.

Summary of incidents:
1 murder on Bushwillow
1 theft on Bushwillow
1 house robbery on Wildwood Way in 2011

Not exactly a neighborhood teeming with crime.

Roux gets up to cross-examine. He asks Maritz if his only source of crime information was the computer. Does he know about any crimes that have not been reported? He answers that he can only give crime information for what has been recorded in their system.

He also asks Maritz if he is aware that the police that arrived at Oscar’s on February 14, had just come from a house robbery elsewhere. Yes he is aware of that.

He also points out that just because someone may stay in a secured estate there is no guarantee that they will be secure against house robberies and other serious crime. Maritz agrees with this statement.

Roux then states that Mr. Pistorius has been a victim of crime on many occasions.

Nel counters and asks Maritz if Mr. Pistorius had reported these many crimes to police, would it have shown up in their system? Maritz answers that there is always the possibility that a name or ID number could be misspelled or typed in incorrectly, in which case they might not find it right away.

Nel then asks, if Mr. Pistorius gave you the date or other pertinent information about the crimes, could they find them that way, and Maritz says yes.

Maritz is excused.

Vermeulen (now known as bat man) is back on the stand as the last witness for the State. He was called back at the request of Roux.

Vermeulen explains that he came back to court on the morning of March 18, to look at the mark that the Defense wanted him to investigate. Vermeulen basically says he wasn’t shown specifically where this mark was and he didn’t see anything new that wasn’t there before. He states that nobody was there that morning to point out to him what they wanted done therefore he didn’t investigate anything new (much to the annoyance of the Defense).

He reiterates that when he did his investigation there were only two marks on the door that he could relate to the cricket bat, as stated in his affidavit.

The mark is then pointed out to Vermeulen by the Defense.

Roux is now pressing him on why he didn’t spend more time trying to fit the cricket bat in to the other marks of the door. Vermeulen states that his job on this case was to determine if the cricket bat was used to break down the door so that is what he did. He identified the marks that would have broken the door.

Roux wants to know if the pictures that were taken during Vermeulen’s investigation show him trying to match the bat up to the mark in question, and Vermeulen states that there are not pictures of that.

Roux shows him pictures that illustrate he did actually try to fit the bat in to the additional mark that they are asking about. Vermeulen says he has not looked at his photos since his last testimony. After viewing them he says he honestly forgot about them but would still like to maintain that he could not match the bat with that mark.

The reason why this is important is because the State’s position is that Oscar was on his stumps when he hit the door with the bat, the Defense says he was on his prosthetics. This mark is higher up so both sides want their interpretation of it to be correct.

Roux is “putting it” to Vermeulen that the State specifically tried to hide these photos by not putting them in their album. Vermeulen’s position is that he went in to this investigation with no idea that the height of the person was of concern. He investigated with an open mind and this is what he found.

Vermeulen is excused.

Nel concludes “this is the State’s case”

Roux requests two days adjournment to prepare his witnesses. Court will resume on Friday.

UPDATE: The trial has been postponed due to one of the assessors falling ill. The trial will resume on Monday, April 7.

Related

I don’t see any indication of a poor or strained relationship. Sure, they had some arguments, as any normal couple would. For the most part the texts/messages sound very typical (even the “bad” ones), and the vast majority sound very positive and loving. After going through, what, 30,000+ messages, if those were the worst they could find then I’d say that’s not something you could point to giving any merit to premeditation.

I find it interesting that no one has brought up that an intruder could be a female. While unlikely, it is not unheard of, and it seems this could have been a strong point for the defense to make. If they were going to make this argument, though, surely they would have already. I also find it interesting that there is no mention of any kind of dream state being taken into account. I recall several cases in the States involving people who were apparently asleep when they harmed or killed their spouse/partner, and this was accepted as a valid defense. Being biased as I am that I do not believe Oscar would have done this maliciously, I would not discount the credibility of someone acting abnormally or not being fully coherent at 3am, having been awaken by the threat of a (perceived) intruder. Fear can lead to many miscalculations and poor decisions.

As you mention, there may be inconsistencies in Oscar’s sequence of events, but there are just as many questions in others’ accounts of the events. I am surprised by this, but there appears to be consistent misunderstanding between the sounds of gunshots and the sounds of the cricket bat hitting the door. These sound like they were actually being confused by the witnesses. Maybe I am missing something here?

Thanks for the updates – there is way too much information to try to sift through in the normal media outlets.

I agree that trying to determine the state of a relationship by text messages alone is not very reliable. By the few messages that we were privy to on both sides of the argument, you can’t definitively say what the state of their relationship was. I do not think they were “deeply in love” as Oscar wrote in his bail affidavit, nor do I think it was all turmoil.

I understand your question about why hasn’t anyone entertained that the intruder was a woman. The bigger problem with the screaming is that not only is it primarily a female screaming, she was screaming for several minutes. Not only one brief moment when hit by the shots, but for possibly upwards of 10+ minutes according to witnesses. That person was clearly in distress, fear and/or pain. An intruder screaming for that long does not fit with Oscar’s story. In fact, NOBODY screaming fits with his story. According to the Defense, the only person who made any sound whatsoever that night was Oscar.

Not only that, but intermingled with those female screams was a male voice yelling. Unless Oscar is one heck of a ventriloquist, I highly doubt he could pull off two voices at the same time.

Some additional problems I am having are the timing of the events according to the Defense’s theory. They submit that Reeva was shot with the first set of bangs heard close to 3am. The next set of bangs weren’t until approximately 3:15am or slightly after. That’s a long time in between to break down that door and get help and it doesn’t match up with Oscar’s account of events that night. Oscar didn’t call anybody until 3:19am, and the person he chose to call was the estate administrator who was also a friend, who also has a daughter who is a lawyer, who also showed up on the scene. If you had accidently shot your girlfriend, would you wait 19 minutes to call for help? Would you call an ambulance first? He did call Netcare, a private ambulance company, after he called Stander and he claims that they told him to bring her in. I find it extremely hard to believe that in light of her horrific injuries, they told him to bring her in. But they have not testified so I can’t say for sure either way if it’s true or not. The fact remains though, by the time that Dr. Stipp showed up and deemed Reeva dead there STILL was no ambulance on the scene. There appeared to be a very lack luster attempt at getting her quick medical attention that night, at least in my opinion.

One more problem… the security guard, Baba, called Oscar at 3:22am and Oscar told him “everything is fine”. His girlfriend had been shot now for 22 minutes, according to the defense theory, but everything is fine. If he had just hung up with Netcare and they told Oscar to get her to the hospital asap, don’t you think he would have said to Baba that he needed assistance in getting his girlfriend to the hospital. He didn’t do that.

Oscar and the defense have some very seriously explaining to do about that whole entire night. I’d also love to know why somebody connected to him removed his cell phone (the primary one he used that night) from the scene and didn’t turn it over to the police until Feb 26. The phone was turned off at 4am and left the scene at 8am. Why?

Again, a lot of explaining to do. Most of what I have heard from them makes no sense whatsoever. But I concede that we have not heard the Defense’s presentation yet and Oscar is due his day in court. I will be listening with all ears.

Stephen, sorry to have to say this but your comment about the intruder being female is just ridiculous! So it was a female intruder that the neighbours heard screaming and then she miraculously evaporated into thin air and Reeva got killed in the crossfire? Is that what you’re saying?

Thought I would look at twitter accounts to see if anything came up…early hours activity when Reeva was at Oscars does not seem to be unexpected.
nb twitter lists times as UTC so 2 hours needs to be added for local South African time…
so people can gauge things..a good example is when Reeva posts a tweet at 02.04 hrs local time on the 13th february 2013.
Obviously she was awake and up to send that tweet so her being up and awake at a similar time on the morning of 14th february 2013 appears consistent.with the norm for her at Oscars.

It presents a good case as to why Reeva didn’t want to spend the night and why Oscar may have been agitated and angry at here. Puts his “get the f*ck out of my house” shouting in new context. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I’m pretty sure I mentioned this in my Day 14 or 15 post, that Reeva wanted to go home. That point really stood out to me as soon as I saw the text message evidence. I also noticed that she had left his house and then came back. I think he was the one pushing her to stay.

When OP was on the stand and explaining to Nel the events from the afternoon of Feb 13 (him going to see Justin and Sam G inviting Reeva over, etc) I definitely got the impression he wasn’t telling the story right. He was tripping over his words and his explanation of that day didn’t make sense. Nervous rambling is what I thought.

I read the link regarding the possible motive…it is too weak with leaps! even if Pistorius persuaded her to stay the night, so what? that does not prove motive. …Reeva would have gone home if she really wanted to. On the contrary hard evidence suggest she did want to stay…Why would she go out to purchase food to make him dinner and buy him a wrapped gift of 3 pictures of them together with a card stating that she loved him? Remember, according to OP’s testimony, Reeva had stayed with him the night before as well. It is clear that she cared for him and did love him…she just wanted him to feel he had space from her if he wanted to. I recall that her roommate said Reeva sent her a msg that SHE decided to stay over with Oscar. Sorry, you got to come up with a better motive..Suffice it to say, prosecution does not have to prove motive, no one will ever know what the heated argument was about.

“Then, she had GPRS activity from 13:07 to 13:40 with that last connection lasting for 2 hours. We don’t know who she was chatting/texting/communicating with during this GPRS session.”

She was using her iPhone as a Personal Hotspot while she was working on the notes for the speech she was going to give the next morning. She reconnected again at 10:04 PM and that connection lasted for nearly 12 hours (well past the time of her death).

Here are her speech notes:

NOTES FOR VALENTINE’S DAY SPEECH : THE HARDSHIPS OF ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Tell them what I received, make a small joke about this. And then tell them that receiving those things is very special but not receiving anything doesn’t define you as a person or make you less valued!!!

1. I was raised on a small farm just outside of Cape Town. In a way I was blessed and privileged to be away from the pressures of city life and I grew up to appreciate the simpler things above the superficial.

2. I will chat about life on the farm, having no money but being blessed with amazing parents who never allowed me to be aware of my circumstances. Some ‘looking back now’ points somewhere after this would fit in.

3. After moving to PE [Port Elizabeth] and deciding to study Law despite our financial situation, I worked hard to be acknowledged as one of the top 15 per cent academics at university so that my studies could be 80% covered by bursaries and I worked to pay off the rest.

4. I broke my back towards the end of varsity. Learnt mobility again and made a massive life decision with regards to my career. I will elaborate on this part of my journey.

5. I was in an abusive relationship at the same time (his mother used to abuse him) and all together these factors encouraged my move to Jozi [Johannesburg].

6. Despite my height disadvantage and the difficulty in general of breaking into the modeling industry, I put my head down and worked hard towards my dream.

7. I lost a lot of self worth during my last year in PE before I moved to Jozi and it took some serious soul searching to remind myself of my value in this world.

8. Being loved by others, although an amazing feeling to have the appreciation of others, does not define your place in the world.

9. Accept who you are. Acknowledge your absolute ‘CAN DOS’ in life and work on your ‘MAYBES’ so that you can be a better person for the ultimate upliftment of those around you.

10. No matter how many people say that they ‘love’ you, if you do not love your person then you will never step outside of the physical you. The physical you can only do so much if your mental you is lost inside of all the confusion.

11. Be brave. Always see the positive. Make your voice heard. Your physical seen. And the presence of your mental you felt. Its that culmination of your person that will leave a legacy and uplift.

12. I hope that you have the most amazing VD and that you are spoilt with love and roses and chocolates. Go home and tell your parents, siblings, neighbours that they are appreciated. You will go to bed with a happy heart and open mind for the future